When a Justice Shares The Name With The Party

On Wednesday, the Court announced the opinion in Barrett v. United States. It would have been fitting if Justice Barrett wrote the majority opinion, but it was not meant to be. Justice Jackson got the assignment.

Just out of curiosity, I searched opinions where the Justice who wrote the majority opinion shared a name with a party. For example, advanced: TI(Kennedy) & JU(Kennedy)

Going back to the 1930s, I found about a dozen examples. I excluded examples where a corporation had a name in it; I only focused on a person’s name.

1. Justice Kennedy wrote the majority opinion in Kennedy v. Louisiana (2008).
2. Justice Thomas wrote the majority opinion in Peacock v. Thomas (1996).
3. Justice White wrote the majority opinion in Alabama v. White (1990).
4. Justice O’Connor wrote the majority opinion in O’Connor v. Ortega (1987).
5. Justice White wrote the majority opinion in Cory v. White (1982).
6. Justice Marshall wrote the majority opinion in Marshall v. Jerrico, Inc. (1980).
7. Justice Powell wrote the majority opinion in Stone v. Powell (1976).
8. Justice White wrote the majority opinion in American Party of Texas v. White (1974).
9. Justice White wrote the majority opinion in White v. Regester (1973).
10. Justice White wrote the majority opinion in White v. Weiser (1973).
11. Justice White wrote the majority opinion in United States v. White (1971).
12. Justice Douglas wrote the majority opinion in Douglas v. People of the State of California (1963).
13. Justice Stone wrote the majority opinion in Stone v. White (1937).

I wonder if the namesakes had anything to do with the assignments–especially the White cases. Justice White had six majority opinions where the party’s name was White. No other Justice had more than one. Most had zero.

Fun fact for the evening.